NoVA Heads Up! Loudoun County Fall Farm Tour

For those of you in the Northern Virginia area, mark your calendars. Next weekend (Oct 18 & 19) is the Loudoun County Farm Color Tour.

I mentioned before that there is a fall and a spring farm tour in Loudoun County where the farms (and vineyards) open their doors for visitors to see the animals, taste the wine, buy their fresh produce and crafts. It's a wonderful event that we have enjoyed doing a few times. [Aside: I think the last time we got to do it, Loping Squid was with actually with us, wasn't he?]

Anyway, if you go to the website above, you can see a list of the farms that are open, get a brochure, look at an interactive map through Google Maps, etc.

One place I DON'T see on the list this year that has always been one of our favorites is the Chile Man. He's one of the farther-out stops on the tour, but it's worth it. He runs a very large sort of greenhouse with all sorts of herbs and chile peppers for sale. He also makes and bottles his own salsa, sauces, and marinades. Usually, during the farm tour, he has a large table set up with samples of all his delicious stuff and bowls of tortilla chips to dip it in. We love his salsas and marinades and always leave with several bottles.

Chile Man Samples during Spring Farm Tour 2006

Since we've been away for a year, I fear the worst - like maybe his business went under. His website is still up, but the calendar of events on his website says 2005, and an email I sent to his website address got rejected. I'll try calling during business hours and see if there's a response.